Loria, according to one industry source, sat alone in the lunch room, not conversing with his fellow owners. Teams from the American League East were unhappy that the Blue Jays improved dramatically, clubs from the National League Central and West were displeased that the four other NL East members would be able to feast on the carcass posing as the Marlins and there was a general sense of embarrassment over the Marlins cutting bait just one year after opening a new ballpark built overwhelmingly with public monies.

And if you’re the Tampa Bay Rays or Oakland Athletics, more than a sense of embarrassment. For them — and any other sports owner who may want to get a new stadium in the foreseeable future — there should be anger.

Loria, both with the way the stadium deal went down in Miami, and now with this cynical, soul-killing trade, has given anti-ballpark advocates a ton of ammunition. He has likewise rendered the old “we need a ballpark to be competitive, just wait until we have one!” pitch of team owners even more obviously hollow than it ever was. Which is great if, like me, you oppose public stadium projects, but really has to tick off those who want one of their own.

I am a Montrealer. I loved the Expos and I attended the games.
Everyone in the city knew that Loria and Samson were frauds. It didn’t take us long to figure that out. Their trickeries and scams didn’t work here,﻿ and rather than take care of the franchise and invest in the team they found suckers in South Florida and moved away.
I miss my team dearly but I’m very happy that we were smart enough to not support these selfish jerks.